Michael Jackson - King of Pop or Overrated?

[Rocky]

Re: Michael Jackson - King of Pop or Overrated?

I'm not sure what you're really disagreeing with since I never did discredit MJ's influence to music/pop at all, other than the fact that he obviously had some good dance moves, as have others over the years, but to me that doesn't necessarily cut it when it comes to musical talent.

And I realize all of those points, but as I said before, MJ's music is more about the production than the vocals to me - which means I like his music more for the production than MJ's vocals, which doesn't mean I'm discrediting MJ as a vocalist or as a performer; I simply associate Thriller (for example) with the production, specifically Beat It and Billie Jan, rather than for Michael's vocals.

Ehh, I don't think you can remain at the top of the music game for 4 decades without having a good deal of musical talent. I think you're not grasping MJ's greatest strength which is giving life to a song. MJ's songs have been covered countless times, but always notice how everybody tries to sing it *like him*. Not like back in the day where Marvin, CCR, and Gladys had three classic and completely different versions of Grapevine or Beatles and Aretha Franklin likewise with Let It Be. For the most part everybody sings it like him almost to a tee which is a true credit to MJ.

The best cover of a MJ song is by SWV because they tried to do something completely different. Their version of Human Nature might be better than the original.

[daflyboys]

Re: Michael Jackson - King of Pop or Overrated?

O Pedophile.

[Fresh Tendrils]

Re: Michael Jackson - King of Pop or Overrated?

4 decades? And I haven't heard anymore than one cover of Billie Jean, so I can't make any comparisons with the rest of the songs, but most covers try to emulate the original, at least the majority of the ones I've heard. The one cover of Billie Jean by Chris Cornell is completely different from Michael's, by the way.

[SLAYER]

Re: Michael Jackson - King of Pop or Overrated?

King of Pop. During his "reign", his musical output was shockingly consistent, and of course, the man was a natural performer.

[Scottdau]

Re: Michael Jackson - King of Pop or Overrated?

King of Pop. That is one talented person, weird, but talented!

[marque1d]

Re: Michael Jackson - King of Pop or Overrated?

in todays terms it's kinda hard to say yeah he's the king of pop but really when you think about it, who today or in the past 15+ years would you be willing to hand that title to? I luv prince but I can't really label him exclusively enough pop to give him the title either. He deserves much more respect than what he gets but I don't know where he fits.

[RockinDaMike]

Re: Michael Jackson - King of Pop or Overrated?

Whatever Michael Jackson does, how crazy or disgusting it is, people will still listen to him till the day we die and longer. If that's not the King, then i dont' know what is.

[SPTO]

Re: Michael Jackson - King of Pop or Overrated?

Whatever Michael Jackson does, how crazy or disgusting it is, people will still listen to him till the day we die and longer. If that's not the King, then i dont' know what is.

I dunno with some of his problems in the last decade and a half I find it a little hard to listen to his songs. Not that I don't like them ("PYT" is a gem of a song) but Michael was so image driven that when his image nosedived a lot of his credibility went out the window.

Let's also look at his post QJ stuff, Michael has almost betrayed his heritage with a more pop/rock fusion and has disregarded his RnB roots. Even when he doesn't have the pop/rock thing going on he's doing these overly dramatic slow songs that well...remind me more of mariah carey in her earlier days then any of his predecessors.

That being said "remember the time" and "Black or White" were decent tunes.

[ehh]

Re: Michael Jackson - King of Pop or Overrated?

Jacko overrated?! No way. He's amazingly talented and the only "pop" artist that I listen to on a somewhat regular basis.

[jmood88]

Re: Michael Jackson - King of Pop or Overrated?

Whatever Michael Jackson does, how crazy or disgusting it is, people will still listen to him till the day we die and longer. If that's not the King, then i dont' know what is.

Yeah. When someone sells over 27 million copies of one album they are the king.

[CMH]

Re: Michael Jackson - King of Pop or Overrated?

Bad question to ask today.

Michael's credibility is so shot that people ignore the fact that Thriller and Off the Wall are two of the greatest albums of all-time.

When people say that Michael Jackson couldn't sing, couldn't dance, and didn't have any good songs, I realize that I'm asking a bad question at the wrong time of his life (and I'm not saying people on OS are saying those things. But, ask some kids and teenagers and you'll get those answers).

It's like asking young kids about Larry Bird. I'd bet they wouldn't give him the credit he deserves. 15 years ago, Bird was arguably the best player in the game interchanging several times with Jordan. Today, people would place him behind players that play today and that's a tragedy.

[SPTO]

Re: Michael Jackson - King of Pop or Overrated?

Michael's credibility is so shot that people ignore the fact that Thriller and Off the Wall are two of the greatest albums of all-time.

That depends on what you mean. Artistically they're very good albums but nowhere near the "greatest of all time" quality. They're very well produced, have great vocals and the music influenced the industry but they're only great in terms of sales numbers.

If you ask a serious musical historian where to rank those two albums and they probably would be ranked fairly low. The thing is, they influenced the style of the times but the influence of both albums don't reverberate like one of the Beatles' biggest albums or Marvin Gaye's WHAT'S GOING ON. It had everything else but just didn't have that extra "something".

Then again, I still have THRILLER sitting in my basement soo I don't deny that when Michael was at the top of his game he was THE king but his dominance was relatively short lived. (about 10-12 years)

[pennstlbu]

Re: Michael Jackson - King of Pop or Overrated?

MJ was the isht back in the 80s. I'll still consider him the King of Pop. Those albums in the 80s were awesome, and are still a great listen now.

[trobinson97]

Re: Michael Jackson - King of Pop or Overrated?

Haha, the nay sayer's are funny. So if Michael Jackson is not the one you'd call the "King of Pop", who is? Are we seriously trying to pretend these titles are handed down generation by generation. If he was THE King in his prime, why is he not now? Who's the Godfather of Soul these days? Queen of Soul? How about Kinf of Rock & Roll? These titles have to be passed down too, since those artists who were given those titles aren't in their primes anymore. I'm all for debates, but let's keep it real here.

[Fresh Tendrils]

Re: Michael Jackson - King of Pop or Overrated?

Personally, I'd give Prince the King of Pop label, but thats just me.